


you aren't people

by inmylife



Series: 30 ways to hold [8]
Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, social exhaustion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 11:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15485208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inmylife/pseuds/inmylife
Summary: kevin/chanhee + on the floor





	you aren't people

**Author's Note:**

> 30 ways to hold: 30 short fics based on tumblr user tiptoe39's list of prompts having to do with cuddling!
> 
> [for those who don't know mallverse, kevin runs the carousel and chanhee is manager at starbucks]

Kevin is not entirely surprised when the first thing Chanhee does upon walking into Kevin and Jacob's apartment is collapse to the floor. 

 

"Chanhee?" Kevin asks, not because he's as concerned as he should be, but because he knows Chanhee wants him to.

 

"Kevin, I'm tired," Chanhee whines. 

 

"I know, babe," Kevin affirms. 

 

"I don't want to work at Starbucks anymore."

 

"Food service sucks."

 

"And I don't want to go home." 

 

"Changmin is a great roommate but you don't want to deal with him right now," Kevin translates. Chanhee nods. "That… is normal. Sometimes I don't want to deal with Jacob either." 

 

"Jacob hyung." 

 

"Whatever." 

 

Speaking of Jacob, Kevin smells Tazo Passion Tea, otherwise known as one of the grossest things in existence. 

 

"Okay. You're going to go to my room, and I am going to make Jacob get rid of his tea, because you and I agree that it's gross, and then I'm bringing back banana milk for you and Jacob's shitty knockoff of the week for me and we'll watch a movie and you can sleep in my bed. Sound good?" 

 

"Mm, yeah," Chanhee mumbles. 

 

So Kevin disentangles himself from the blanket and leaves. 

 

"Jacooooob!" He shouts. "Get rid of the fucking tea, it's gross!" He does this in English. One of Kevin's favorite things about rooming with Jacob is that they don't have to speak Korean with each other at all. 

 

One of Kevin's least favorite things about rooming with Jacob is motherfucking Tazo Tea. 

 

The bitching about the tea is a bit of a ritual for Kevin, so he isn't even annoyed when Jacob yells back a "no! Also, it's midnight, and you're going to wake up the neighbors!" 

 

Kevin walks into the kitchen and leans back on the counter. "Jacob, I fucking hate the mall. And also your tea. You know, it's going to make me throw up someday." 

 

"You always say that," Jacob says easily. "Do you hate the mall, or do you just hate the assholes that upset Chanhee?" 

 

"Both," Kevin moans, very nearly slamming his head into a cabinet as he leans back. "I hate the assholes, and I hate - well, I love kids, but I hate dealing with them eight hours a day." 

 

Jacob laughs. "You signed up for this." 

 

"Jacob, you fucking work at Gap. You know nothing about… children." 

 

"Kevin, I work in Kids Gap."

 

"You have backup!" Kevin shoots back. "You have Yerim in there with you, I - listen, Taeha operates the thing, Taekwoon has social anxiety, and all Gyuri wants to do is read. I am the only person on the fucking carousel who has to deal with children eight hours a day." Jacob mutters something about how sharing a store with Jaehwan is basically the same thing, but Kevin chooses not to hear it. "Gyuri doesn't even have an excuse!" 

 

"Isn't that Gyuri noona?"Jacob corrects him. "And Taekwoon hyung?"

 

"Jacob, we are literally speaking English right now, I - " This time, Kevin really  _ does _ hit his head on the cabinet. It hurts like a bitch. "Mother fuck!" 

 

"Language." 

 

"I  _ hate you _ ," Kevin mock-glares as he grabs a carton of banana milk and some kind of Sprite knockoff out of the fridge. The knockoff sodas are another hallmark of their apartment, just like the cabinets that they really ought to baby proof or something and bitching about Jacob's tea. Jacob's first week in Korea, he had been wanting root beer or something - this was before Kevin came, so he doesn't know the details of the story - so he brought home the shitty Korean knockoff edition of Barq's home to whoever his roommate was, and the knockoffs just sort of stuck. They're really not that bad now that Kevin's used to them, honestly. 

 

"I'm back," he announces, switching back to Korean as he pushes open the door. "I come bearing banana milk."

 

"I think I actually love you," Chanhee says, facedown on Kevin's floor. 

 

"Chanhee," Kevin says deadpan. "Baby. Please just get on the mattress. I don't have a bedframe, even." 

 

"I don't want to get up," Chanhee wails. "I'm so - I'm so tired, Kevin, I hate being manager because every customer is a jerk, and Changmin is just so loud, and I don't want to talk to people ever again, I just want to drink my banana milk and sleep!" He starts tearing up a bit way through, and by the end he's crying out of anxiety. 

 

This is why Kevin hates the mall. 

 

"What about me," Kevin murmurs, setting down the banana milk and sitting on the floor beside Chanhee. "Aren't I  _ people _ ?" 

 

"You never come to Starbucks to yell at me," Chanhee murmurs, eyes on the floor. 

 

"So, no, I'm not." Chanhee nods in affirmation. "Good. Can I hold you?" 

 

"God yes," mumbles Chanhee, allowing Kevin to pull him into his lap. "Hide me. Don't let me go to Starbucks ever again."

 

"I thought you weren't talking," he teases, "mm?" Kevin laughs a little. 

 

Chanhee just nods. Kevin can feel it against his chest. 

 

Other things he feels - Chanhee's heartbeat, his chest heaving, tear tracks starting to wet his shirt. 

 

"We can just stay on the floor if we want," promises Kevin. 

 

They fall asleep there. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> so yeah does anyone else do this thing where if they're social for too long they get emotional and tired? afaik it's an anxiety thing for me and so i kind of projected on chanhee a little. sorry chanhee
> 
> a favorite trope of mine is when someone says they hate people and then their love interest/bff asks them "what about me" and then person a says "youre not people" like honestly? i have two people in my life who arent People who i could genuinely talk to for hours and i love them so much and i don't see either of them nearly enough so college better hurry up!!! and if i was going to project my anxiety onto chanhee i figured lets give him someone who isnt People as well because we all deserve one
> 
> full disclosure i actually wrote the scene with jacob with another idea in mind, then scrapped that fic but that scene was too good to lose, so i kept it... it may be one of the funniest scenes i've ever written imo even though it sort of reads like there's more jacob in this than chanhee 
> 
> twt is missyehana and tumblr is zhengkis!


End file.
